Ch. 29: Aftermath

When Judy's consciousness came back the first thing she detected was the scent of antiseptic and…carrots?

She forced her eyes open, her eyes blurry from the lights above her. She was in a hospital bed.

Her eyes trailed to the left and she spotted her parents sharing a chair together, Bonnie lying against her husband's shoulder, eyes closed while Stu stared at the TV in the corner where an old sitcom was playing.

She spoke, her voice as dry as sandpaper, "Daddy?"

Instantly both her parents jumped off the chair and hurried to her side, Bonnie taking her paw with their eyes watering up.

"Oh, sweetie," Bonnie breathed, choking up. "Are you okay? Can we get you anything? Water? Do you need your pillows fluffed?"

Judy shook her head softly, "No, I-I'm fine." Her body still ached but it wasn't as bad as before, she felt the tightness of bandages wrapped around her torso and an IV drop sticking from her arm.

"What happened?" she asked them.

"Everyone thought you were dead," her father spoke, his voice wobbling. "But the ZPD had gotten a call from some mammals from the hospital and found you and Nick at the Cliffside Asylum."

"You were all brought here," Bonnie added.

Judy thought of sitting up but decided against it, "Where's Nick? Is he okay?"

"He's fine," Stu answered. "His mother's with him in another room, he had to be injected with the Night Howler antidote."

Judy let out a sigh of relief and sinked against the pillows that felt like clouds, "Thank heaven… What about Finnick? Bellwether?"

"The sheep?" Bonnie asked her, "She's back at the house she was supposed to be in."
"I made her leave," Judy told them. "I need to tell Chief Bogo." She tried to sit up but her parents eased her back down.

"Visiting hours will be over soon, dear," Bonnie told her. "You can do whatever you need to do tomorrow."
Judy relented; if she was honest the only thing she really wanted to do right then was sleep. But she had one more question, "What happened to Ronno and-and the collared predators."

"That deer that called himself a cop was killed," Stu answered; by his tone the news didn't bother him in the slightest. "All the predators they found got the collars taken off and given the antidote just like Nick, and then they were sent to the prison."
"But everyone else," Judy wanted to clarify before her consciousness slipped away again. "Everyone else is fine?"

They nodded just as a beaver nurse walked in to announce that visiting hours were over.

"We're staying at a nearby hotel," Bonnie told her daughter. "The nurses have the number if you need us."

They wrapped her into a hug that nearly made Judy grunt in pain but she held it back, she could feel the relief oozing out of her parents. They had thought she was dead, she almost was and that thought had her return the hug tenfold. They both kissed her goodbye and she kept her eyes open until they left the room with a final wave.

.

The sound of rustling woke Judy up, the room dark, the window showing it was nighttime. She startled, spotting a pair of green eyes looking down at her. After she adjusted to the darkness of the room she realized those eyes belonged to Nick.

He was sitting on the edge of her bed, his arms, neck and legs wrapped up in bandages and he wore a hospital gown similar to hers.

Judy's heart nearly burst out of her chest and she broke into a grin, sitting up and extending her arms toward the fox to wrap her arms around him. But before she could Nick brought his paws to her shoulders and pushed her back onto the bed. Judy stared up at him in surprise as Nick lifted one paw off her shoulder and used it to lift her gown up to her stomach.

"What-what are you doing?!" she demanded trying to pull her gown back down but stilled when Nick placed his paw over the bandage that hid her claw marks. The expression on his face had Judy swallowing painfully, and she sat up, pushing his paws away from her.

"Don't," she ordered, looking him in the eye, "Don't look at me like that."

Nick's licked his lips and stared at her with a heartbroken expression that Judy couldn't stomach.

"What are you doing in here?" she asked him, keeping her voice down in case a nurse passed the door.

"I snuck out of my room," he breathed. "I didn't believe them when they told me you were okay."
Judy offered him a soft smile, "I'm fine, just fine. Thanks to you."

He snorted bitterly and looked away, "Yes I was such a help when I tried to claw your guts out."
"I said stop," she snapped. She reached her paws out and grabbed his face between her paws, forcing him to look at her. "You know why I'm alive right now, Nick? Because you saved me. That Night Howler didn't make you savage it brought out your most primal instinct, and that instinct was to protect me."

Nick didn't look like he believed her; Judy suspected he didn't remember what he had done when he was under the control of the collars. "But the wounds…" his paw reached over to touch her stomach but only hovered over the gown. Judy grabbed his wrist and brought his paw to her torso. "That was an accident; you were trying to push me away from the fight."

She reached her arms out and wrapped her arms around his neck, pulling him down to lie on the bed beside her. Nick slipped his paws around her waist and held her against his chest.

"I love you, Carrots," he breathed into her ear, "I'm so happy you're alive."

Judy buried her face into the fur of his neck, "I love you too. I love you so, so much."

When they were both finally convinced the other wasn't going to disappear if they let go they started to talk. Holding paws between each other Judy apologized for her distrust of him, Nick smiling softly at her as she stammered over the words. She knew he didn't even care about what she had said back at the asylum.

"I have something to tell you," he said as she finished. "Something I should've told you a long time ago…But I was too scared to."

Her brow knit, "Scared?"

He nodded somberly, "I was scared you'd leave me. But you know what, Carrots? Having you leave me and be alive and well is a whole lot less scary than you not being alive at all."

Judy's grip tightened around his paw, "You can tell me anything, Nick. Always."

So he told her about the Pack.

How he had met them, how they had treated him as friends just when he needed them, how that was the reason he had been dragged onto the other side of the law. He told her how it was just him, all on his own, that had been so angry he had attacked the prey that had hurt him.

When he was done he couldn't meet Judy's eyes, not until she pulled his chin up and made him do so, their noses touches as she looked at him with the tenderest of eyes. Then she snuggled into his chest and he held her for all he was worth and finally, finally, the past was in the past.

.

Nick was woken quite suddenly by a weight on his chest. He grunted in pain, waking up Judy in turn and the two opened their eyes to see a small sugar glider sitting on the fox's chest.

"Suzy!" they both said joyously, sitting up.

Nick pulled the sugar glider into a hug while Nick kissed her cheek. The fox chuckled as Suzy kissed his chin. Judy turned to the door to see Eleanor standing there, the older sugar glider walked over to Judy's side while Nick started to tickle Suzy.

Eleanor held the bunny's paw, "We were just about to leave but Billy asked me to send you his gratitude, his brother was given the antidote and he took him home. And I wanted to thank you personally. You and your fox saved my baby's life and mine."

Judy smiled softly at her, "All in a day's work for the ZPD."

Eleanor looked at her daughter who was still squealing under Nick's tickling claws. "I think you both did more than that."

She let Nick and Suzy play a little more before saying it was time for them to go, they needed to get their home fixed but Eleanor insisted they visit whenever they wanted to.

Nick held Suzy up to be at his eye level, the baby holding her tiny paws on Nick's nose. "You be a good little rascal, okay?" he told her, his green eyes warm with affection. "I'll be visiting so you make me proud." He kissed her cheek and Suzy kissed his nose. The sugar glider nuzzled Judy's cheek in goodbye before leaping into her mother's awaiting arms.

They waved goodbye as the Sugar family left.

But they were gone for only a few seconds before Amelia Wilde appeared in the door, she fixed Nick in a glare. "Nicholas Wilde if you ever escape your hospital room again I swear…" she shook her head before walking over and pulling them both into tight hugs.

They were freed from her hug a few moments before Judy's parents arrived, giving Amelia a polite greeting before surprising Judy by pulling Nick into a hug. The three parents sat together in a couch as Nick and Judy steadily received more visitors.

The first were the Unusuals, Finnick screaming at Nick for being such an idiot while he had his arms wrapped around the fox's torso. Fidget and Perry told Judy about how the hospital had demanded where they got the antidote and savage predators; they had panicked and end up telling them the truth who called in the ZPD. Surprisingly Chief Bogo had believed their words, saying it sounded just like Hopps and Wilde. Judy had never felt such affection for the big buffalo.

"Also that bear, Casper," Fidget added. "As soon as she gets bail we're gonna get her to join our band."

Just then Bogo, Clawhauser, and a few members of the ZPD arrived and crowded into the room. Clawhauser in tears and blubbering over the two of how he had been so sure they had died and had eaten so many donuts it nearly took a donut shop out of business by eating all their stock.

When the cheetah had calmed down Bogo sat down next to them and told them that what they had done was dangerous and they should've relied on the ZPD more. But he was proud of them and so glad they were safe.

"Glad enough to make us detectives?" Judy dared to ask.

Bogo gave her a funny look, "Hopps, if you hadn't walked off that day I would've told you there was no need to prove yourself. I would've been happy to make you two detectives."

Judy's eyes widened and Nick gave her a droll look. But before he could say anything about how silly his partner was when a high-pitched shriek and then Fangmeyer and Delgato were stepped back as Fru Fru ran into the room and somehow managing to climb up onto the bed.

"Juju! I heard you got hurt and they couldn't find you and then I heard they found you and Nicky at the asylum and I was so worried and you're my baby's godmother you can't go and die on me like that!" She wrapped her tiny arms around Judy's neck and sobbed, Judy patted her friend's back.

When Fru Fru finally managed to calm down she patted Nick's paw and told him she was happy he was okay too, Nick took her words with a sweet smile.

"Miss Hopps?" the beaver nurse came in, holding a phone. "You have a call, they said put it on speaker."

Confused Judy took the phone and spoke, "Hello?"

"YOU'RE ALIVE!" Sven's ecstatic yell nearly made Judy drop her phone. Nick rolled his eyes while everyone else in the room looked either amused or confused.

"I told you she was alive!" Winter's exasperated voice came from the phone. "You saw it on the news, I saw it on the news; everyone saw it on the news!"

"And don't yell," Charlie spoke up. "They're at a hospital you need to speak quiet."

"Hey, guys," Judy quickly spoke up before the three started a conversation. "I'm fine. And so is Nick."
"Hi," he said to the phone.

The three started on again, managing to say they were happy they were okay before going on about volumes and hospitals and other random things. Judy finally told them goodbye and hung up the phone. But as she handed it back to the nurse she remembered something she needed to do. "I need to make a call."

.

"I wanted to say thank you."

Judy stood in the hall way, Nick entertaining their visitors while she made a call to Bellwether.

The line was silent for a moment before she spoke up, "You really shouldn't…"
"But I want to," Judy replied. "You-you really helped me back there."
"I had my own reasons for helping you," Bellwether said softly, her voice saying so much more than words ever could.

"How is Frothy and Casper?" Judy asked.

"They're fine. Casper won't be here much longer, she's just a honey shiner. But me and Wade will be roommates for a while."

Judy wanted to say she'd try and make her house arrest short but she didn't know if she could keep that promise. And despite her help Judy knew Bellwether needed to stay under the house arrest. At least for now.

"Do you think you two will be okay?" she asked.

When Bellwether spoke it was like Judy could hear her smile softly, "Yes, I think we will be. See you when I get out Hopps."

"Bye, Bellwether."

Judy hung up the phone and turned to see Amelia stepped out of the room, smiling at the bunny as she walked over. "Everything okay? Nick sent me to check on you. He would've done it himself but Finnick and Clawhauser forced him to stay in bed."

Judy chuckled, "Everything's fine." She smiled at the vixen, her mind trailing to one of the last conversations she had with her.

"Mrs. Wilde," she spoke up, her voice serious. "I need to ask you something."